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Morphological and microsatellite differentiation in Melospiza melodia (Aves) at a microgeographic scale
Author(s) -
Chan Y.,
Arcese P.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1420-9101.2003.00601.x
Subject(s) - biology , subspecies , gene flow , microsatellite , evolutionary biology , sparrow , genetic divergence , zoology , population genetics , population , genetic structure , genetic variation , allele , genetics , genetic diversity , gene , demography , sociology
Geographical variation in microsatellite allele frequencies and morphology were compared for five subspecies of Melospiza melodia (song sparrow; M. m. samuelis , M. m. maxillaris , M. m. pusillula , M. m. gouldii , and M. m. heermanni ) in 14 populations in the San Francisco Bay region to (a) assess divergence based on these estimates and (b) test the hypothesis that drift is responsible for morphological and genetic divergence. Morphological differentiation between subspecies was high despite low differentiation at microsatellite loci, indicating high gene flow and large effective population sizes. Low concordance of morphological and genetic estimates of divergence suggests that selection or phenotypic plasticity in morphology has caused morphological differentiation among the subspecies.